The first page of The Shadow Patriots begins with what I believe is the author’s dedication. Whatever the technical term, he says:

“To my fellow patriots, may you all have the courage to come out of the shadows and stand tall.”

Those are powerful words and the perfect backdrop for Warren’s thriller that blends current events with a sobering fictional tale that seems to be unfolding into reality one day at a time. Scary stuff when you think about it.

Enjoy the interview and be sure to check out the details of this week’s giveaway below.

An Interview with Warren Ray

It’s about a middle-aged man, Cole Winters, who answers the call to duty to help fight in a disastrous war being waged against the Chinese in California. But while traveling to the recruitment center, he is inadvertently thrown into another war, a war that nobody knows exists.

After stumbling upon a secret plot to kill the recruits, before they even begin their training, Winters tries to stay one heart-pounding step ahead of corrupt forces as they try to capture him. He tries to save as many of the recruits as he can, while seeking to find out who is behind the killing of thousands of American volunteers.

The underlying story is the difficult situation that Cole Winters finds himself in. It forces him to make choices that change him over time and puts him on a path of self-discovery.

What type of research did you have to do while writing your book?

Besides staying current by listening to talk radio everyday and reading news blogs, I read a lot of fiction. I did use Google Earth in order to describe all the towns where the action takes place. Being able to see use the street view was an incredible tool to utilize.

How long did it take you to write?

The book took me three years to write, mostly because I didn’t know what I was doing at the time.

Every book, fiction and non-fiction, includes a message. What message do you hope my readers will take with them after reading The Shadow Patriots?

Have faith in your fellow Americans, because when push comes to shove, most will come out of the shadows, and stand up for what is right.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I wish I had something exciting to tell you about some great adventure or having served in the military, but I’m pretty boring. I’ve been in sales most of my life and currently work for myself. I am an artist and have some pieces displayed in various public places.

As an author in the survival, prepping and/or homesteading niche, what are you personally preparing for?

Hopefully retirement, but with the way things are going in our country, one has to wonder how many of us will be able to retire comfortably or at all. I would like to think my novel is a cautionary tale, but some of the things that I’ve written about three years ago, have already come to pass.

Do you have plans for another book?

Yes, I’m finishing up the second book in the series. Now that I know what I’m doing, it’s not taking nearly as long as the first one. It should be typo free by November.

Is there anything else you would like to share with my readers?

Yes, vote for Backdoor Survival for favorite Prepper Blog. Nowhere else can you get a chance to win free cool books.

The Book Giveaway

To enter the giveaway, you need to utilize the Rafflecopter form below. There are a number of options including a “free for everyone” option that requires just a single click. Easy peasy!

The deadline is 6:00 PM Pacific next Thursday with the winner notified by email and announced in the Sunday Survival Buzz. Please note that the winner must claim their book within 48 hours or an alternate will be selected.

The “Rafflecopter”

The Final Word

I had to chuckle when Warren mentioned typos. All writers, including bloggers, do get better at proofreading over time. In addition, when we first start, many of us really do not know what we are doing and where we are headed.

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The action begins after a series of devastating events that brings America to its knees, which include an invasion by the Chinese military in California.

This startling incursion rallies young people by the thousands to sign up to fight for their country. But after decades of military budget cuts, casualties soar in a disastrous war and in desperation, the government puts out a plea for anyone to volunteer.

Cole Winters, a middle-aged man with no military background, decides to answer the call of duty but quickly finds himself thrown into a different nightmare when he discovers himself in the middle of another war, a war nobody knows exist. After stumbling upon a secret plot to kill the recruits before they even begin their training, Winters tries to stay one heart-pounding step ahead of corrupt forces as they try to capture him.

In a frantic race against time, he saves as many other recruits as he can while seeking to find out who is behind the murder of thousands of American volunteers.

Bargain Bin: Today is all about books. Listed below are all of the books in the current Backdoor Survival Book Festival. There are both fiction and non-fiction titles and a bit of something for everyone.

Note: If you covet an e-Book reader, consider the Kindle. Prices start at $119 although a basic kindle is only $69. And if not, at the very least pick up the free Kindle app so that you can read Kindle books on your PC or favorite electronic device.

Need something from Amazon (and who doesn’t)? I earn a small commission from purchases made when you begin your Amazon shopping experience here. You still get great Amazon service and the price is the same, no matter what.

Now Available in Print!

The Prepper’s Guide to Food Storage is a book about food: What to store, how to store it and best practices. It is a roadmap for showing ordinary citizens that long-term food storage is not something that will overwhelm or burden the family budget. It is based on my own tried and true experience as someone who has learned to live the preparedness lifestyle by approaching emergency preparedness and planning in a systematic, step-by-step manner.

Whether you simply want to prepare for natural disasters or whether you believe the world is headed toward a major food crisis, this book is for you. It covers basic tips and techniques you can use to stock your food storage pantry so that you can be assured that your family will have food to eat, no matter what.

Great giveaway, please enter me. As an indie author myself, I applaud and support the new genres of books coming up and out of the ranks of like minded folks. It’s a lot of work, but the message and information are, oh, so necessary.

And p.s. because I thought I’d better comment first to be honest to click “I commented”, there was no specific event that lead my husband my husband and me on the path toward becoming self-reliant, self-sustaining, and prepared for the unshaky future. It’s just always been an urge within us to pull out of the frenzy paced, man-made world that seems to be on automatic self-destruct. There just never seemed to be any other way to live our lives.

I don’t think there was any one thing that started me prepping, it came about because of the way I was raised. Our mother always canned food, raised chickens, etc. Of course being a poor family we did without a lot of things, but we never went hungary. Now it’s looking more and more like there may be days of hunger for all of us if we don’t prepare now.

I can relate a lot to JimW above…i grew up much as he did. Gardening and canning was a yearly way of life, and I’ll never forget the hog butchering every year when the weather cooled enough (or lying in bed with the lovely hog “perfume” drifting through the open windows as i likewise drifted…off to well-earned sleep lol).
What I call calculated prepping began fo me after I got out of the military in ’94, but I suppose THE event for me was Y2K. That got me focused and honed in, for sure.
Now that my kids are grown up, I’m able to be more dedicated to my preps.

Kelsey. You had to bring up hog butchering. It reminds me of the days when my grandfather and uncle butchered our hogs. All us kids would wait around during the process, to get the “balloon”. I didn’t know it at the time, but the “balloon” was the hog’s bladder. I do so hope that they washed it out before they let us kids blow it up and play with it. As I remember, it was hard to burst and we could have hours of enjoyment with it.

I became a Boy Sprout at the age of 10. They teach to “be prepared”. Back then to get a faith in God award, you had to attend a church. The church I started to attend was the one that sponsored our troop, the LDS. Everyone knows that the LDS preach a years supply of food.
That got me started and I have never looked back. It gives me a “warm all over and fuzzy feeling” to be prepared.

For me, it started with 9/11. I remember being so afraid of a possible bio-weapon attack. It’s been in my mind since then but really just in the last year that I’ve gotten organized and started prepping in earnest.

We have wildfires where I live and we were evacuated in 2007. That got me thinking more about prepping. Then when the economy tanked, that did it. We still are not back financially to where we were before, might never be. Prepping gives me peace of mind.

No event in particular, just a general feeling of unease about where we are headed as a nation. Then after reading and researching, the realization that being prepared for any disaster is my own responsibility.

Reading One Second After did it for me! I had never read a book from that genre before. It created a sea change in my thinking and I went out and bought a week’s worth of MREs. I’ve since changed to stockpiling Freeze dried food, shelf stable food, first aid supplies, etc…

We started prepping back in the 80’s when we found out about the New World Order. Since then it has always been about food, shelter & survival skills. This book would be another good info. on survival which we all need to pay attention to. Would love to receive this book.

My parents were depression babies and they grew most of their own food. My mom would buy flour, sugar, mayo and other staples in bulk. We also had a garden and orchard that she canned from and dad raised and butchered beef cattle and chickens.

I began prepping for ” the big one ” that’s what we call it in Cali that is, earthquake state. I am like others above in comments extremely concerned of how the economy is heading , lack of domestic foreign policy, power grid vulnerable etc etc. I also read my Bible and see prophesy being fulfilled right before my eyes..

There wasn’t a specific event that prompted me to becoming prepared. It was just where I lived at the time – upstate NY – with lots of snow, bad roads, and ice storms. You just knew to have things in your car to deal with getting stuck or extra food, water & blankets for when you got snowed in or lost power. I’ve just progressed since then to becoming prepared for different scenarios that could happen. To me, it’s just common sense – I needed to be able to take care of myself and not rely on someone else.

Caregiving for my mom is what made me realize the need for prepping. She and I are the only family we have. If something happens I don’t have others to rely on for help. So it only makes sense to be as prepared for as many possibilities as possible.

I think I noticed how unstable economically America was and felt like I should be ready in case something worse happened. We don’t get the really bad weather the eastern part of America gets but the power goes out from time to time. I’m happier knowing I don’t have to go stand in line at the grocery store if something happens.

For me, it was opening my eyes and ears to what our current pResident is doing to transform our once-great nation. I saw through him from Day One. I am a Daughter of the American Revolution and have the blood of patriots flowing through my veins, so I guess you can say I just can’t help it. The author’s dedication certainly resonates with me.

No particular event got me thinking about prepping, just the general feeling that no one can take better care of me and my family than me. We have recent examples (Katrina & Sandy) of how inadequate the government is when it comes to disaster response. Just be prepared to take care of you and your own!

Katrina was such an eye opener for us. Evacuees were sent here and our neighbors had a family stay with them. So we got a first hand look at what was happening, even months later. Rita hit here in 2005. Because of Katrina, so many panicked and left, causing the traffic nightmare that killed those unprepared. So many just got in their vehicle and left home without a thought to gas, water, or food. We stayed and were without water or power for about 10 days. So we stood in those lines to get water. When Ike hit in 2008, we were ready. We had our generator, food, water, and propane for the grill. Never again.

I have been kind of a prepper ever since I was a young boy, think about it “BE PREPARED” the Boy Scout motto, from the Swiss Boy Scout book „Allzeit bereit“ (Always prepared) from 1916 which also translates to BE PREPARED which means you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your DUTY. You should have been listening and doing this all along.

I think what got me to thinking about prepping was when I found out how close we are to having an EMP event, and how fragile our grid is. Also, after 9/11 I began to feel afraid, and still am afraid today as well as worried, due to the direction our country is moving into. Never in a million yrs., did I think I would be alive to witness what’s going on around us today.

The “event” that started me thinking about being prepared was a gradual realization, as the economy began the rapid downturn, that the government was only doing things to make it worse, and I realized that with the way things were going, no one would be there to take care of us, but ourselves.

No specific event in terms of a natural disaster or anything like that…I was listening to talk radio on my way home one day and wondered why there were all these ads for emergency-food-supply companies. I got home, fired up the Google, and began to realize that setting up supplies of food, water and gear to bug in with wouldn’t be a bad idea.

First it was Y2K, then 911 made me glad I had continue to prep. Over the last 2 yrs with everything that is happening worldwide and here at home I have stepped up my prepping by developing new skills. I continue to expand my knowledge by staying up to date with current events and prepping updates thru Back Door Survival. It is so comforting to know that I’m not alone in this adventure. Thanks for all you do to help all of us get ready for the unknown!

My son and I went with out electricity for 4 days during winter. We could handle it and dealt with it. BUT it is a whole other thing when you are caring for your 85 year old mother. We were out for 6 hours and I had to keep wrapping her up in blankets. That frightened me, so I began prepping.

Due to power outages during hurricanes in the past decade, my husband and I had mentioned how we should get a generator, and other small things for “just in case” but it wasn’t until a year ago when we had to support my mother and her husband due to job loss. We not only had to pay their bills, but buy them groceries as well, since after the first week, they were running out of food. After the first couple months, we decided we really needed to make sure we wouldn’t be in the same situation as them, and it has grown from there.

No one event caused me to start preparing, more like a combination of many things. Anything from 9/11 and hurricane Katrina to the six years I served in the military, I have slowly but surely had my eyes opened to the things going on around me in the world.

Why did I start preping? Not totally sure what started me off. I do remember stumbling on a few youTube videos on packing 5 gal buckets lined with mylar and was curious why. I considered the current world and it seemed like a good idea, then Catrina happened. It did not affect me directly but it was a serious wake up call.

For me I don’t think it was any single event. I think it has been just slowly evolving and growing. I have always been drawn to disaster movies and books, when ever I see them or read them, I think about what I would have wanted to be able to do in that situation and I try to add more stuff to my preps that would make that possible.

Calif Wildfire in 1977 – before reverse 911 calls. Saw it coming and, instead of watching, began loading the cars. Neighbors stood around watching the smoke. When the wind shifted and we all had to run for it, they had just the clothes on their backs. Almost every home was burned to the ground. Started keeping an emergency bag in the trunk after that. Began really prepping about 2 years ago for more long term stuff rather than just an immediate emergency.

We have always wanted to live an independent lifestyle, but a growing sense of uneasiness about the direction of our country pushed us to become preppers. We do this now to prepare for our children and grandchildren and their future.

I feel I am behind the curve and very thankful for all the great sites like this one that are helping me come to grips with reality, prepare for the worst and restore my faith in humanity and the strength of people.

I guess I’ve always been a “prepper”, because we grew up so very poor, I’ve always made it a priority to have a very well-stocked pantry, but we really got the family involved around 2008, because the economy was tanking and we just started thinking “what if”…dad lost his job, mom got sick and couldn’t shop or cook and the medical bills started piling up, you get the picture…

I have always been taught to have “extras” on hand but when my dad passed, something just “woke” me up and I started to become more serious about making sure we were ready(as ready as we can be ;)) for what may happen in the future

Shadow patriots seems like an exciting book to read. I love the premise that people in America are stronger than they appear and will rally when up against the wall. I first thought about survival and preparation when Y2K scare was in the news.

I’ve lived through a number of serious hurricanes in my life – Carla (as a child unable to return to our home for 2 months), Alicia, and Ike. I know what it’s like to have no electricity, not be able to get gasoline, and to see stores that aren’t open or have very little for people to buy, and only with cash. I continue to be more concerned about things other than hurricanes that could be extremely disruptive, such as economic collapse, civil unrest, and terrorist activities. There are many reasons to prepare.

3 hurricanes within 6 weeks when we lived in Florida.Thankfully we were ready but each time we lost power for over a week.Now we live in Montana and with the country being in a shambles, in my opinion, I am preparing for a number of scenarios. Thank you for the reviews and all the giveaways.

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MEET GAYE

I'm Gaye, just an ordinary gal trying to make sense of our changing world. I am addicted to prepping, DIY projects, adult coloring books, and ballroom dancing. I live what I call a strategic life and believe you should too. Everyone needs to prepare for the worst and live for the best. Won't you join me?

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